Background. Food-borne parasites are major sources of human and animal illness, posing severe health risks in places with contaminated soil, poor water quality, cleanliness, and poor sanitation. The usage of untreated organic fertilizers arising from the excreta of the parasites’ definitive hosts either man or animal pollutes the agricultural soil and is reflected in its products of vegetables and green fodders causing serious health problems. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, this will be the first study that investigated the combination of parasitic contamination of the agricultural soil and its products of raw eaten vegetables and green fodder in East Nile Delta, Egypt. Aim. The purpose of this study was to investigate the type and degree of contamination caused by parasites in regularly used raw vegetables, green fodder, and soil samples collected from open fields in Egypt’s East Nile Delta. Study Procedures. A cross-sectional study comprised a simple random collection of 400 soil samples, 180 green fodder samples, and as well as 400 vegetable samples, including lettuce, radish, coriander, parsley, dill, watercress, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, and carrot, that were gathered throughout one year period from January to December 2021 to represent all seasons (winter, spring, summer, and autumn). The research locations were chosen from various open green fields and farming regions in Egypt’s East Nile Delta producing ready-to-eat vegetables for human consumptions and planting green fodder for animal feeding. Concentrations, including sedimentation, and flotation, and staining techniques were used to recover the greatest number of parasitic life forms. The parasitic structures discovered were identified using biometric and imaging data and compared with known parasite morphology. Statistical analysis was performed with the SPSS software version 22 (IBM, Chicago, IL, USA). Data were presented in numbers and percentages. P -values equal to or less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. The difference in parasitic contamination among the different categories was compared using the chi-square test. Results. In this investigation, 243 out of 400 soil samples (60.7%) confirmed positive for parasitic contamination ( P < 0.05 ). Various parasitic life forms were significantly found in 249 out of 400 (62.25%) of the vegetable samples, with (65.1%) of them harboring one parasite species, whereas 9.2% significantly contained up to three parasites. Ascaris eggs, Trichuris eggs, and Giardia cysts were the most prevalent parasites, which were predominantly isolated from vegetables with uneven surfaces. 109 of 180 (60.0%) green fodder samples confirmed insignificantly positive for parasitic pollution. The proportion of parasite contamination in vegetable samples was insignificant although the highest was in spring (29.3%), followed by summer (27.7%), whereas it is significant in autumn (24.5%). The prevalence rate was the lowest in winter (20.1%). Conclusion and Recommendations. Our findings demonstrated a significant load of parasites notably the soil-transmitted parasitic infection in raw vegetables and green fodder cultivated in open fields as well as in their mother soil in the east of the Nile Delta, Egypt. These results confirm the urgent need to deploy strict control measures to the soil, especially during the pre-harvest period of raw eaten vegetables and green fodder, a critical step in reducing food-borne transmission of soil-transmitted parasites to man and animals.

Toxoplasma gondii is a globally obligate intra-cellular protozoan zoonotic disease. This study evaluated the efficacy of Thymus vulgaris and Myristica fragrance Houtt (Nutmeg) ethanolic extracts against chronic toxoplasmosis. A total of fifty laboratory-bred male Swiss Albino mice were infected with Me-49 T. gondii strain and divided into five groups G1:non infected/non-treated control, G2:infected/non-treated, G3: infected/treated with Thymus vulgaris extract, G4: infected/treated with nutmeg extract and G5:infected and treated with Spiramycin. Mice were given Thymus and Myristica ethanolic extract 4 days post infection for 14 days then sacrificed 4 weeks after last dose. Brains and livers were dissected out and processed for histopathological examination. Tissue cyst count evaluated the efficacy of extracts. The results showed that mean number of brain cysts was significantly reduced by 47.5% in mice treated with Thymus extract while Myristica extract treated group showed a mild reduction (0.8%). Thymus effect was near to Spiramycin in cyst reduction (47.5% & 48.89%) respectively. Brain and liver lesions in Thymus treated mice showed considerable improvement.

Introduction: Cryptosporidiosis has become an issue of great interest being life-threatening among immunocompromised hosts worldwide. This study explored the curative effect of Allium sativum (garlic) and Artemisia herba-alba ethanolic extract versus Nitazoxanide drug on both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed-Cryptosporidium experimentally-infected mice. Methodology: One hundred male Swiss albino mice were divided into the following groups: (GI) non-infected non-treated group, (GII) infected non-treated group, (GIII) garlic treated group, (GIV) A. herba-alba treated group, (GV) Nitazoxanide treated group, each group subdivided into two subgroups (a) Immunocompetent, (b) immunosuppressed. The assessment was performed by parasitological counting of fecal oocysts, histological examination of intestinal tissue, immunological detection of interferon-gamma levels in mice sera, and ultrastructural study by transmission electron microscopy. Results: Garlic and A. herbal-alba extracts showed a decrease in the mean oocyst counts through all days of follow-up. This was associated with significant up-regulation of interferon-gamma cytokine levels in serum and histological improvement in intestinal tissues of mice compared to control groups and the results were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The highest efficacy was obtained by garlic, then by A. herbal-alba extracts followed by Nitazoxanide treated group; where the immunocompetent groups showed better improvement than immunosuppressed ones. Conclusions: Garlic has a perfect effect as a promising therapeutic agent against Cryptosporidiosis and therefore validates their traditional use in parasitic infections. Accordingly, it may offer a good option for cryptosporidium treatment in immunocompromised patients. They could be used as a natural safe product for the preparation of a new therapeutic agent.

Soil-transmitted helminths (geohelminths) belong to the group of neglected tropical diseases. This assembly of infectious diseases include parasites namely A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and the two hookworm species, A. duodenale and N. americanus causing an extensive variety of clinical symptoms and signs. S. stercoralis is one of the most important and often neglected additional STH affecting 10-40% of the population mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia [1]. Geohelminths can affect human health either directly by damaging the internal mucosa of the gut and feeding on host's blood and serum, or indirectly through production of inflammatory cytokines that affect appetite and food intake of hosts especially children [2]. Both mechanisms are a dual burden of parasitic infection leading to malabsorption with drastic deficiencies in macro and micronutrients which in turn leads to a malnutrition state that increases susceptibility to infection by inducing alterations in host immune function. These factors not only affect the physical development of children, but also they impair their cognitive development leading to retarded academic performance [3]. Geohelminths are transmitted by a fecal-oral route, which explains its high rate of prevalence in areas deprived of proper socioeconomic development and/or lack of proper sanitary environmental health conditions; criteria known to be present in low and middle income countries, including Egypt [4]. In developing countries, these worms continue to represent an actual health problem infecting millions of people and exhausting its health budget annually. Globally, the infection with at least one species of geohelminths occurred in more than a billion patients. Most of them are those living in low income countries deprived of education, health

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Background: Albendazole (ABZ) is the drug of choice in treatment of intestinal nematodes. However, development of drug resistance necessitates developing novel drugs or drug repurposing.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of single doses of Ivermectin (IVM) versus ABZ in children infected with intestinal nematodes. Subjects and Methods: A total of 136 schoolchildren (6-15 years old) infected with T. trichiura, A. lumbricoides, and A. duodenale were enrolled in the study. They were divided into two treatment groups, 68 in each, receiving either ABZ or IVM. At days 0 and 14 post-treatment, one stool Kato-Katz thick smear was performed for cure assessment in ABZ and IVM treated groups. Blood samples were collected at the same time points to determine absolute eosinophil count and IL-5 serum level as additional parameters to assess their prognostic role in drug efficacy. Results: Compared to the ABZ cure rate (CR), IVM showed equivalent efficacy in treating A. lumbricoides. However, it was unsuccessful in treating both T. trichiura and A. duodenale infections. High eosinophil counts were recorded in the infected rather than non-infected children and their levels dropped significantly after treatment with ABZ and IVM. High levels of IL-5 were observed in the infected children compared to non-infected, with significant reduction after treatment with ABZ and IVM. Conclusion: A single dose of IVM is a promising therapy for A. lumbricoides but was inefficient for treating T. trichiura and hookworm infections. Although eosinophil counts and serum interleukin-5 (IL5) levels decreased after treatment with ABZ and IVM, their function as effective prognostic parameters requires more research to establish their relevance.

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Toxoplasmosis is a serious health problem in humans and animals resulting from obligatory intracellular invasion of reticuloendothelial tissue by Toxoplasma gondii. The profound pathologic effect of toxoplasmosis is confined to nervous tissue, but many other organs, including the liver and spleen, are insulted. Many molecules like caspase-3, CD3, and CD138 are implicated in the tissue immune response in a trial to alleviate hazardous toxoplasmosis impact. This study aimed to investigate the effect of chronic toxoplasmosis on the liver and spleen tissues of mice using biochemical and histopathological techniques and to detect the activity and level of expression of caspase-3, CD3, and CD138 in these tissues using immunohistochemical labeling. Compared with normal control, altered normal histological features accompanied by inflammatory reaction were recorded in hepatosplenic reticuloendothelial tissues in chronically infected mice. The biochemical profile of the liver has been changed in the form of increased liver enzymes, and oxidative stress has been evidenced by elevated nitric oxide (NO) concentration in liver homogenate. The levels of caspase3, CD3, and CD138 were markedly expressed in the liver and spleen of infected mice. Our findings revealed the persistent effect of latent toxoplasmosis on the host’s histological architecture, metabolic, and immunological profile, creating a continued challenging host-parasite relationship.